Leadership needed on deficit

The National Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Commission has issued a draft report that is close to its co-chairmen's earlier mark. For the 18 commission members, Friday is decision time.

The draft paints a compelling picture that the federal government is on an imprudent and unsustainable fiscal path. The report makes clear “everything needs to be on the table” to put the federal government's finances in order, and it offers a mix of spending and tax recommendations.

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The big question is: Will at least 14 of the 18 commission members vote for the report and most, if not all, of its related recommendations?

Given the current state of affairs, the newly elected congressional leadership should make an immediate, and public, commitment that they will do everything in their power to ensure that any recommendations that achieve a supermajority level of support will get a vote in the 112th Congress — with the House voting first.

Doing so could provide additional incentive for commission members to support the report's recommendations. But whether or not the co-chairmen’s recommendations pass with a supermajority, the commission's proposals — along with those of the Peterson/Pew Commission and the Bipartisan Policy Center's Debt Reduction Task Force — need to be given serious consideration by both President Barack Obama and Congress.

The key to achieving real fiscal progress is for Obama to decide which of the various findings and recommendations from the above groups and others he wants to include in his State of the Union address, 2012 budget and broader legislative agenda.

Obama then must use the bully pulpit to speak directly to the American people, making the case for timely action and needed reforms. These presidential communications should be coupled with a major public engagement effort in selected cities, as well as a personal White House outreach to the leaders of both political parties in Congress. All these steps are likely to be necessary to make progress on a short list of issues in 2011 and set the stage for additional reforms in the future.